The present invention relates to a floating cover and baffle system used to vastly increase treatment effectiveness of wastewater treatment lagoons used to remove pollutants from water.
For many years, sewerage treatment facilities, as well as some industrial wastewater treatment facilities, have used lagoons to remove pollutants. However, as effluent water quality standards have become more strict, entities have either abandoned their lagoons as a mode of treatment or they have added tertiary treatment units. Those entities who have added tertiary treatment units such as constructed wetlands systems, sand filters, and spray irrigation, are plagued with algae problems which hamper the effectiveness of tertiary treatment units. Also, tertiary treatment units are being designed larger than necessary to allow for algae accumulation, and in many cases algae clogging problems eventually cause premature system failure. Although algae does exhibit positive effects on wastewater treatment lagoons, such as providing oxygen during daylight hours, there are many more negative effects. Other negative effects associated with algae growth in wastewater treatment lagoons include the way algae causes the pH of the water to rise. The micro-organisms which stabilize organic matter are extremely sensitive to pH and their effectiveness is severely reduced at high pH levels. Furthermore, permitted effluent quality limitations are often violated because the discharge of algae contributes to both biochemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids. The present invention will provide a cost effective way to prevent algae growth in wastewater treatment lagoons.
Those entities who employ mechanical wastewater treatment systems, such as the various types of activated sludge processes, are having a difficult time successfully operating and maintaining these systems due to the extremely high cost which include large amounts of electricity, sludge treatment and disposal, chlorination, dechlorination, the need for a highly knowledgeable wastewater treatment facility operator, and replacement of major components. Additionally, as wastewater collection systems age, inflow and or infiltration of rain water into collection systems play an increasing role in effective wastewater treatment. Small to medium sized mechanical wastewater treatment systems are typically unsuccessful in handling even moderate amounts of inflow and or infiltration, which results in solids being washed out of the aeration basin during and immediately after rainfall events. These so-called washouts are causing permit noncompliance and subsequent problems for government environmental regulatory agencies as well as the wastewater treatment entities themselves. The present invention will allow entities to return to using wastewater treatment lagoons, which can handle inflow and or infiltration, and do not include any of the above mentioned costs.